Unless OKC wins a championship or makes the Finals (neither of which will happen), you can put it in the bank PG is leaving OKC. Their fans can't really do anything other than enjoy the moment and hope against all hope. IMO, even if OKC fluked out and made the Finals, PG will leave.
Lakers are big favorites. He hasn't been subtle about it. If they attract another big name max player like LeBron or Cousins, probably a done deal. The entire NBA will be in a holding pattern until LeBron announces. The summer of 2018 will be like 2014 except a shorter wait.
Lulz. PG wants to leave. Westbrook wants to manufacture every single point. And Melo wants to shoot everytime he touches the ball. What a world.
I know you're not just figuring this out now. Some people just do not need a microphone shoved at them but, alas........
I like his honesty. The guy is barely pretending. The real question is will Presti trade him and get at least something. Only 4 weeks left.
I'm not saying he definitely will, just that it's an open question. The fact PG is gonna walk away for nothing makes the trade a complete disaster for OKC in the long term. If some team offers OKC enough, I believe PG will traded. It's a practical matter.
I see it the opposite way, i would bet they will not trade him at all, or let's say, if they make the playoffs. In the end they traded what was considered a bad contract for him well knowing that he could've been there for just one season, if he's gone they will open up some cap space which is why they did the trade anyway, to dump Oladipo's contract. I'm not even sure i can blame Presti here, Westrbick and Oladipo was not working, and probably it wouldn't have working even this year, anyway, they were looking to be just an average first round teams for years going forward with Westbrook, Adams and Oladipo, they decided to take a risk which will not make them worse than how they were last season if George leaves, they have nothing to lose basically...also, if George wants to go to the Lakers like everyone is saying for a year (which seems to be true looking at the poor offers Indiana got for him), who's going to trade something decent to good for George just for having him two months when nobody traded **** for having him one season?
The trade deadline is Feb 7th, not very long from now. Presti can't wait to see if they make the playoffs. Unless OKC goes on a great roll in the next 2-3 weeks, there is no reason to think they will have much playoff success. OKC doesn't care much about cap space because no FA worth a dime will sign there. Their only ways to improve are drafting and trading. Any way you look at it, Oladipo was worth his contract and the Thunder abjectly failed to uncover his value. That was a monumental failure. The problem is WB. After watching Oladipo explode on the Pacers and observing how PG had to morph into WB's waterboy for OKC to break .500, it's clear WB is toxic on teammates (except maybe Steven Adams). As far as trading PG, obviously they won't get much unless a team thinks PG can be the final piece this season. You never know.
But they will make the playoffs, look at the West, as much as i would like them to choke i just don't know how we can think they'll not make it... Other than that, what you're saying about Oladipo is easy to say as today, but there's a reason why literally everyone was laughing at Pritchard when they made the trade, and the only reason was that Oladipo was considered a bad contract so, trading Oladipo was a good move regardless for them at the time cause in one move they got either George or eventually 20M more in cap space for 2018 dumping a bad contract. What i'm saying is that at the time they knew very well that George wasn't coming for staying 100%, but they took the gamble cause even if he would have left, that would've been still ok for them all things considered.
It was a gamble that failed. Oladipo's problems (like PG's this year), were WB related. They gave up a legit stud player for a one-year rental. Making the playoffs is no big deal at all. Keeping Oladipo and Sabonis (and Kanter for that matter) would have resulted in a playoff berth too. Again, salary cap space doesn't amount to a hill of beans for OKC because great FAs will not sign there, for good reason. If the Thunder were a team in an attractive market, clearing $20M would be a much bigger deal. Maybe we can agree to disagree. I say both the PG and Melo trades were gambles that failed. PG is a goner and they are stuck with Melo next year unless they buy him out.
Well, i think everyone can agree with that (at least if George will leave OKC) as today, but what i was trying to say is that at the time they made it for more than one reason, they didn't go out there getting him because they went crazy. And again, you can talk about cap space being useless now (we'll eventually see if you're right or wrong), the point is that at the time Oladipo was a bad contract, and in one move they got George and got rid of that bad contract, if a top free agent will eventually sign there is a secondary point. Just to be clear, what i wanted to argue is just that when they traded for George they didn't do it being sure he would've stayed there long term, in fact, i'm pretty sure they would've keep Oladipo if only they knew he was going to play like he did this season. But at the time they basically kill two birds with one stone. That's why i don't think they will even think about trade him.
I get your point. It's understandable why Presti made the trade at the time. But he ended up getting Pritch-slapped.
The crazy thing is, at least from the purely basketball POV, Presti could have traded Westbrook and let Oladipo thrive, and Paul George might even be happy staying in OKC playing with Dipo instead of Russ. They might even get some nice throw-ins from the Pacers if it was Westbrook.
